Thursday, November 5, 2015

The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to Be a Jedi? (Star Wars: Episode V) by Adam Gidwitz

Book Summary
Will you become the next great Jedi?
Acclaimed, New York Times best-selling author Adam Gidwitz delivers a captivating retelling of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as you've never experienced before, dropping you right in the middle of the action. You are Luke Skywalker, taking your first steps toward becoming the greatest Jedi in the galaxy. But the way will not be easy, and the power of the dark side is strong....
 

Flo's Review
As I said in my review of A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy by Alexandra Bracken, I know the general idea behind Star Wars, and of course iconic characters and lines, but the last time I watched the series I was kid and I remember none of it. After reading Alexandra's retelling, I watched A New Hope. My next step was to pick up this retelling by Adam Gidwitz. This is read, so now I'm ready to watch The Empire Strikes Back. Then I'll start reading Tom Angleberger's retelling of Return of the Jedi.

Adam Gidwitz writes for kids, so right away there was a difference in tone between this and the first one. I was okay with it, though. Made it easy to read and had me chuckling at points. Not knowing how the story goes down, excited was I to see Yoda introduced. (Note: I thought about writing this entire review in Yoda-speak, but I thought it'd get too complicated -- for me. Lol). 

While Alexandra split her story up into three parts by dividing it among three different POVs, Adam chose to tell his in second person. So the reader is Luke Skywalker. That was cool -- I liked it. He also included a whole alphabet worth of Lessons directed to you (the reader) about how to become a Jedi. He took it and turned it into something you can do in this day and age. Another nice touch to the story. 

This entire series is a good way to introduce kids and teenagers to this classic story in a modern way and package that might interest them more than simply watching the old movies. I think they are succeeding. 

Two down, one to go.

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